News Archive

When will the rain end

Tuesday, 20 February 2018

"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work."

Emile Zola.

A really wet morning

It is another very wet morning and looks like it is going to continue like it for most of the day. I thought the forecast was for it to get drier, but somewhere along the line I must have got that wrong. We only have one non-runner this morning, which is a bit better. With very few runners this week it makes it easier for everybody as when you have runners you send staff away and then it puts pressure on the ones that are left behind. Two good canters close to home has been the exercise and all has gone well.

Astrojewel

Everything is starting to crank up a gear now in Newmarket with the grass canters and gallops beginning to open, although with the very wet weather I think the majority of the horses have kept to the artificials. It is certainly very busy on the Bury Road side of town with the famous Warren Hill taking the majority of the horses. Over on our side the numbers have increased as new trainers have moved in. This puts more pressure on the canters and we have had a couple of meetings with the heath foreman to arrange more tractor passes on the all-weather canters. It is amazing how Newmarket has expanded and developed over the last 30 years and is still doing so. There is an undoubted demand for an all-weather track to be built here and the sooner the better from everybody’s point of view. It would certainly help with owners costs and would be a tremendous help to the stable staff. It’s a no brainer and let’s hope the people who are responsible for making the decision understand this.

The yard people are working well

The mares at the stud are still hanging on with two well overdue now. I was sure they were going to foal this weekend as they can’t hold on too much longer. We have got them under 24 hour watch as they can foal at any time, day or night, and especially the maiden mares that you have no idea of their foaling patterns.